Slack adjuster



R. E. ADREON ET AL sLAcK 'ADJusTER Filed July 19, 1922 INVENTORS RoERgWE.ADREON CHRISTOPHER P. CASS ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 26, 1924.

UNITED STATES yPATENT OFFICE.

` ROBERT E. ADREON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, AND CHRISTOPHER P. CASS, OFBERKE- LEY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN BRAKE COMPANY, OF ST.LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OFMISSOUB'I.

SLACK ADJUSTER.

Application filed July 19,

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT E. ADREON and CHRISTOPHER P. CAss, citizensof the United States, residents, respectively, of St.

Louis, State of Missouri, and Berkeley, in

the county of Alameda and State of California, have jointly inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Slack Adjusters, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to slack adjusters employed for automaticallytaking up slack in the brake rigging due to the wear of the brake shoeson the wheels.

It has heretofore been proposed to apply a take-up cylinder to the tierod connecting the usual brake leve-rs and one object of our inventionis to provide a construction of the above character in which the`take-up cylinder is entirely supported by the tie rod, so that theoperation of the slack adjuster will not be affected by movement of thecar body on its supporting springs nor by the relative longitudinalmovement of the tie rod, due t0 the brakes being applied.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following` more detaileddescrip-tion of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing; Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly insection, of a` brake lever tie rod with a take-up cylinder appliedthereto in accordance with our invention; Fig. 2 a section on the line2-2 of Fig. 1: Fig. 3 a plan view, partly in section; and F ig. 4 adiagrammatic view of a car brake equipment with the improved slackadjuster applied thereto.

In accordance with our invention., the take-up cylinder is .made a rigidpart of the tie rod and for this purpose the take-up cylinder maycomprise a casing 1 having opposite flange faces to one of which isapplied a jaw casting 2 having the usual jaw 3 at the outer end forconnection to one of the brake levers. To the opposite flange face isapplied a sleeve casting 4, the members 2 and 4 being secured to thecasing 1 by means of bolts 5.

Telescoping into the sleeve casing 4 is a jaw casting 6 having a aw atthe outer end by which the same may be pivotally secured to the other`brake lever. An adjusting screw 7 is secured to the jaw casting 6, as bymeans of a pin 8, the screw 7 having screw-tln-eaded 1922. Serial No.575,934.

engagement with a nut 9 mounted in the takeup cylinder. Secured to saidnut by a key pin 10 is a ratchet wheel 11 and mounted in the cylinder 1is a piston 12 having pivotally mounted thereon a pawl 13 adapted toengage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 11. Said piston carries a member14 which extends to the vopposite side of the ratchet wheel 11 andserves as an abutment for coil springs 15 and 16.

In order to prevent rotation of the piston ,12, the member 14 may beprovided with a lug 17 adapted to engage between longit-udis nal ribs 18formed on the casing. The chamber 19 above the piston 12 is connected bya flexible pipe 2O to the usual port in the brake cylinder so that whenthe stroke of the brake 'cylinder piston exceeds a predetermined amount,the port is uncovered, and air from the brake cylinder is supplied tothe take-up piston.

In operation, if the brakes are. applied and the wear of' the brakeshoes is such that the stroke of the brake cylinder piston exceeds thepredetermined amount, then fluid from the brake cylinder is supplied'through pipe 2O to piston chamber 19 and piston 12 is then moved toshift the pawl 13 so that a succeeding tooth in the ratchet wheel 11 isengaged. IVhe-n the brakes are released, the exhaust of fluid from thepiston chamber 19 permits the springs 15 and 16 to shift the piston 12and the pawl 13, so that the ratchet wheel 11 is rotated by the pawl.The corresponding rotation of the nut 9 causes a movement tothe left ofthe adjusting screw 7 thus shortening the tie rod, the screw being heldagainst rotation by being secured to the jaw casing 6.

The tie rod is thus shortened to take up slack and when by successiveadjustments, the screw 7 engages the relief wedge 21, said wedge may betapped on the under side, so as to permit the pawl 13 and piston 12 tocomplete their stroke.

A felt washer 22 may be placed in a groove in the sleeve member 4 so asto bear against the jaw casting 6 and thus prevent the entrance of dirt,moisture and the like.

It will now be seen that the take-up cylinder forms a part of and issupported and prevented from rotation by the tie rod, so that no supportfrom the car body or other outside members is required,

In Fig. 4, the slack adjusterv is shown applied with the member 3lconnected to brake lever 23 and the member 6 to brake lever 24, saidbrake levers being operatively connected to the brake cylinder 25.

Having now described ourk invention, what we claim as new and desire toSecure by Letters Patent, is:

l. In a slack adjuster, the combination with a floating tie rod for thebrake cylinder levers, of a slack take-up cylinder supported entirelybyv the tie rod.

2. The combination with a lio-ating brake cylinder lever tie rod, of afluid pressure operated slack adjuster supported entirely by said tierod.

3, The combination with a floating brake cylinder lever tie rod, of afluid pressure operated slack adjuster associated with and supportedentirely by said tie rod.

4. The combination with a pair of tie rod members, each secured to abrake lever, of a take-up cylinder fixed to one member and a slackadjusting screw fixed to the other member.

5. The combination with a pair of tie rod members, each secured to abrake lever,

of a take-up cylinder fixed to one member,

a nut associated with said cylinder, and a screw fixed to the othermember and having screw-threaded engagement with said nut.

G. The combination with a pair of brake levers and a tie rod memberconnected to each bra-ke lever, of a take-up cylinder interposed betweensaid lbrake levers and fixed to one member and a: sleeve fixed to saidcylinder, into which the other member istelescoped.

7. The combination with a pair of brake leversand a tie rod memberconnected to each brake lever, of a takeup cylinder interposed betweensaid brake levers and fixed to one member, a sleeve fixed to saidCylinder, into which the other tie rod member is telescoped, and anadjusting screw yfixed to the telescoped member.

8. The combination with a pair ofbrakem levers of a jaw castingpivotally connected to each brake lever, a take-up cylinder' fixedlysecured to one jaw casting,an d a sleeve member fixedly secured to saidcylinderand having the other ed therein.`

9. In a slack adjuster, the combination with an vadjusting screw andmeans for moving said screw longitudinally to ktake-up jaw castingslidably mountslack, of a movable wedge shaped key engageable bly saidscrew upon'a p-redeter-

